Well, I just got word from Fuad 1 saying that if I wanna keep watching advanced screenings, I gotta start reviewing movies. Plus I figured it should bring some life to this blog, and give me a break from writing about the usual stuff I write at UberGizmo 2. And so here is my first foray into writing a proper movie review. Forgive me if there are any spoilers- it is my first review after all!
I woke up this morning with two missed calls and one voice mail on my phone. It was Fuad. “Legend of the Guardians, this morning at 1030, give me a call if you wanna go.”
I checked the time. It was nine. Shit, I wanted to go back to bed. Then I figured, I could just come back and sleep after the movie. Plus if the movie was bad, I could sleep in the cinema anyway. So I gave him a call and told him I’d be there. An hour later I was at GSC Mid Valley getting ready to go into the cinema. I knew nothing about the movie besides the trailers I’ve seen so I didn’t know what to expect besides awesome graphics and the 30 Seconds To Mars theme song. Well I got the former, but not the latter- which was replaced by an Owl City 3 song (which was a better song, but not as epic as 30STM in the trailer).
The first thing that surprised me was the inclusion of a Warner Brothers short at the start- Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote in their very first(?) 3D appearance. And man it was good. Classic Looney Toons gags, but now in spectacular 3D. Oh yeah, just to get it out of the way, LOTG is worth watching in 3D. Don’t skimp out just to save a few bucks for this show, trust me- it is worth it.
Legend of the Guardians: The owls of Ga’Hoole tells the story of a bunch young owls who after being kidnapped, break free and turn to their childhood heroes for help- The legendary owls of Ga’Hoole. Nothing groundbreaking in this department, the standard dreamer protagonist who believes that there is hope in myth (which turns out to be true), standard enemies, traitors, the ex-hero turned old war-hero fanfare and a continuous string of clichés. But then, what did you expect? Memento? I haven’t read the storybook the movie was based on, so I can’t say how faithful it was to the original story, but what I can say is that the movie was entertaining from start to finish.
First thing you gotta give props to is the visuals. Jaw-dropping, amazing. Avatar what? Yeah, this is one movie you gotta see to believe. The animation of the owls- superb. I’m no owl expert, but I believe that if owls could talk and had character, they would be like the owls in the show. The characters have so much character. I think that even if the owls all looked the same, you could still tell who was who just by the way they behaved. Brilliant acting. They did an awesome job with the visual effects as well- water, wind, clouds, fire, and the fight scenes. The only complain I had was the all-too frequent use of slow-mo. I was wondering what’s up with the director, until the credits hit and I saw “Zack Snyder” and was like, “Ohhh.. no wonder.”
All praise aside, my major gripe with the movie was how underused some characters were. I didn’t like how characters appeared in the show just to act for a scene or two, and then are removed from the scene after that. It made it feel very cartoony- like you know how in some cartoons, hook-ups don’t matter? i.e. torn shirt in one scene, and okay the next? It was probably due to the inclusion of important scenes from the book, but there wasn’t enough time to develop the characters further in film, so I guess that’s why the movie had that problem. Other than that, and the predictable story (which I didn’t mind because it was entertaining), this movie is something you don’t want to miss in the cinemas. The characters and visuals make the overall experience an impressive one. 7/10.
1 – Fuad: my very fun and flamboyant ex-colleague. Used to write movie reviews as well, he’s been my ticket into the world of advance press screenings.
2 – For my current day job, I am now one of the many blog editors at UberGizmo, an online tech blog. I will be moving to UberPhones once it’s up and running.
3 – Owl City – To The Sky. Of course you use Owl City for a movie about owls right?